The Follan's have been running a profitable wedding and portrait business by following one mantra for photography success: zig when others are zagging. Andrew and Sarah have done things differently from the start. Andrew quit his full time job without a plan. The best option was to start a photography business because it was one thing that he loved to do.

A gamble? Yes.

Was it worth the risk? The day of the interview, Andrew was surfing mid week with one other surfer and a pod of 20 dolphins. You be the judge.

In this interview, Andrew puts his photography success down one strong belief – stand out somehow or blend in and get lost in the crowd.

Here's some of what we cover:

  • Working as a husband and wife team and the advantages
  • Charging a high deposit to improve cash-flow
  • Having a “fallback” option, will you need one?
  • Branding to stand out from the crowd and why you need to
  • The importance of learning from other photographers
  • Having time to do the other things you want to do
  • Part time to full time photography and why there's nothing wrong with that approach
  • Marketing portraits to wedding clients, does it really work?
  • Using newsletters as a marketing tool and who should you include on your list
  • Facebook competitions to generate newsletter subscribers, good idea or bad?
  • Why it's more difficult than ever to book weddings today
  • Having friends in the industry can be the best source of referrals for weddings
  • When everybody's zigging, you should be zagging
  • Why blogs don't let you showcase your best work and you need a website
  • Why you don't need to be creative and arty to have a successful photography business
  • Success can happen even if you don't have a particular style for weddings or portraits
  • Facebook Advertising, is it for every photographer?
  • Bridal expos definitely work as a source of bookings
  • Ants in your pants and turning up to the wrong house on the wedding day
Nothing is off limits in this interview and Andrew shares a ton about his business, the way he and Sarah do things plus a story of turning up to shoot a wedding with the announcement of, “Quick, where's the bathroom, I need to get my pants off”.

Andrew Follan photography interview

The Follan's mantra has always been, stand out and that extends to their website amongst other things in their business.

Premium Members

I get asked more about pricing and how to set up a price list plus what to include from listeners via email than anything else. In this extra audio for premium members, Andrew breaks pricing down and simplifies it in a way that I've not heard before.

Follow his simple approach and you'll have an attractive price list for you that is actually profitable in no time. This really is a no fuss approach that makes total sense for anyone setting up or offering wedding or portrait packages.

What is your big takeaway?

Following the interview, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or remember from what Andrew had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

The Follans Podcast Interview

Facebook, like with many studios, plays a big part in the Follan's marketing approach.

What have you implemented so far?

Each episode I encourage you to let me know what, if anything you've implemented or “taken away” from the podcast interviews. This week I received an amazing email from Pauline Davis and I'd love to share some of it with you:

I have been wanting to write and tell you all my news for some time now but like everything else, sometimes “life” gets in the way and things go topsy-turvey but here you are asking me and so I will take this opportunity to put “life” on hold and talk to you for a bit.

Well, I just would like to start by thanking you again for my membership as it's been such serendipituous timing with my photographic journey just starting out and I can honestly say that all the take-aways and handy tips that I have taken onboard have directly resulted in me as a photographer getting “out there” and actually doing something with myself and creating art 🙂

I am not a “pro” and sometimes I question whether I am a photographer (heheheee 😀 ) but I love art and making art and love the discipline of photography. I moved to the country (Cobargo…just down the road from Ben Marden) about 3 years ago and gave up horse riding as it hurts too much when you fall off and so wondered, “What can I do now that doesn't hurt as much?” “I know – Photography!” Little did I know that sometimes photography hurts MORE!!!! 😉 😀 Anyway, as life had it, I did one of Ben's workshops and loved it and the rest is history.

As time went on and I bumbled and fumbled my way around cameras and lenses and Lightroom and fellow photographers I realised I needed a plan; a course of action that would help mould me into the photographer that I wanted to become. Low and behold, Andrew and Photobizx.com!!!! Hallelujah! Praise the lord (or Andrew!) 😉

So, what has been my take-aways from the podcasts, I hear you ask??? Well…

Firstly, I think Nick (Evans) said it (along with a few others) that “mentoring” was the primary thing that helped him get it together as a photographer, both in helping with learning the technicalities and also with learning the ropes of good business practices and so I started the quest to find myself a good mentor… someone who I respected as a person and business professional and someone whose work/art inspired and motivated me to learn and do more with myself as a photographer. Bingo! I had the luck to find TWO mentors!!! Ben Marden, whose work I LOVE and aspire towards and has helped make me the photographer that I am today and, Melissa Ellis who I also met through Ben's workshops. Melissa is quite remarkable in that she, like me, only picked up a camera about 3 years ago and has already gone on to run her own childrens/family photography business in Canberra and WOW, what great work does she do! She is one dynamic lady!!! She has so much talent for a newbie and so much drive it puts me to shame but she is a lovely person and loves to help and when I asked her about mentoring me, she welcomed the idea and couldn't (and still to this day) do enough for me, helping with everything from camera/lens advice to pricing and post-production tips. I struck a “winner” with these TWO mentors!!! 🙂

Thank you soooo much, Andrew, for interviewing Caitlin as I got soooo much out of her podcast. The main thing for me was how I was going to get my portfolio together to be able to promote myself with my pet photography. My main take-away from Caitlin was to use the local animal welfare and charity organisations to build my portfolio. I decided I would approach them and see if there was an opening for me to come in and do some “free” shoots for fundraisers, advertising etc, and so help them out as well as provide me with some learning opportunites and experience. As fate so had it, I was told about the Narooma Dog Training club's fundraiser for the Far South Coast Animal Welfare League and invited to attend and take photos of the days events and dogs to sell with the proceeds going to the Animal Welfare League. YES! I took 220 photos and culled it down to 103 edited pics which I have put on an USB stick to make into a slideshow DVD for sale. Omigod, and I got some great pics for my portfolio at the same time. Win/Win!!! Onya, Caitlin!!! ALSO, my dogs grooming salon told me about their fundraising day for the Merimbula Animal Welfare League this Sunday (oh boy, oh boy 🙂 ) and so I offered to do the same photo shoot for them and hopefully, build my portfolio even more 🙂 Way to go!!!!

An interesting thing, something that Brian (Chapman) said and that was about giving the client the prints instead of a disc and leaving them to get their own prints. I like this idea a lot!!!! It worries me, also, that I have spent so much time editing and making sure the image is just the way I want it and that the client (not knowing anything about print quality and photolabs) could go out to Dodgey Joe's Photolab and get “green” prints back and it reflects back on me as the photographer. This thought was my take-away from Brian and with my pet shoots up to now (all TWO of them heheheee) although I will be giving them a DVD (long story but basically of the legalities) and not controlling their print orders, I have chosen to print on the DVD label something like, “My photolab of choice is…” and that way, at least there is some chance of them getting good prints.

Jonas, I liked for his straightforward approach to photography, in general, and his confidence in his work and what he likes for himself as an artist. I think he is naturally gifted but taking your camera everywhere and taking millions of pics is really sound advice to anyone wanting to improve their camera skills. I try and take as much as I can and have started carrying my camera gear in my car and get out when the location “takes” me as much as I can. My main take-away here was to look at as much art as I can, whether it is paintings, photographs, books, magazines, cards, whatever, as each has its place with colour, texture, light etc etc. I try not to compare my work (which is hard sometimes, but other times not so, as my work DOESN'T compare…it just doesn't! 😉 😉 I like to look at Ben's work as I really admire his style and his “eye” for capturing the decisive moment and hope I can channel some of that in my work 🙂 I think all this will help me to find my own style which is what I am searching for at the moment. We will see! :-\

Of-course, the wonderful Mimika!!! I loved her interview as she had really nutted out everything and I can see why she does exceptionally well in whatever she does. There was soooo much content in her interview and most of it isn't relevant to me in my journey at the present but possibly in the future I can refer back and pick up what I need. If I have to say something, then my take-away would be everything about keeping your business “personal” with the human touch in advertising and promoting yourself as opposed to solely using technology and the internet and web based interactions. Mimika had so many great ways of interacting with people and your clients and I hope to be able to use them in my business. I am not much of a geek so I think this will suit me well!!! heheheee You know what, Andrew, with Mimika, for me, when I think about it, the take-away is her “energy”!!!! I wish she could market that!!!! I would buy it by the tonne loads!!! It is soooo refreshing to hear such positive energy and enthusiasm for one's work. Love it!!!

So, I think that's it for now, Andrew. My journey has only just started but thanks to you and your wonderful service in helping and inspiring other fellow photographers, no matter where they are on their journey, I have some fantastic ideas and advice and help that I can use to further my photography dream. It's funny but I am finding that as I go along, there is an appropriate podcast just waiting for me to tune in, to get my next step of my journey underway. Magic!!!! 🙂

Thank you Pauline, what an incredibly uplifting email to receive – wishing you every success and happiness with your photography and more importantly, your journey and life. Thanks again for taking the time to put your thoughts in writing.

Mimika TV has Kicked Off

Last week I was interviewed for the first episode of Mimika TV – it was an interesting experience being asked the questions for a change but fun none the less. We talked a little about how I got started in photography before getting into more of the business side of things.

One thing you may find interesting is how I can shoot a portrait, make a “no sale” and still think of it as a $500 earner for the business. I cover that in the interview which you can by clicking here.

iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs

Also, a few shout-outs to photographers that have made contact via email or social media this week:

Warren from http://volarephotography.com.au

Russell from http://www.russellhydephotography.com.au

Angelica Cassidy 

Dianne from http://www.milestonesphotography.com.au who sent this great youtube “spoof” on photographers cashing in on workshops – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS8nn8ngzeo

Andy from http://www.kissandtellphotography.com.au

And finally Mary Angelini from http://www.angeliniphoto.com who had the twitter quote of the week in regard to the Photography Business Xposed podcast:

“Were it not for post-it notes, I would be completely lost – every time I listen to a podcast my cube at work brightens by at least 1 stop from all the yellow notes plastered all over it!”

Thanks guys, it's been great chatting and hearing from every single one of you this week. If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!

Another Photography Podcast

If you love podcasts, and hearing about and from other photographers, Michael Rammell has released “Ready Steady Pro” a podcast dedicated to those photographers looking to go full time into photography but just aren't there yet.

The audio quality is great and Michael does a great job keeping the show flowing with a round table approach to different topics that face any photographer looking to make a living from their passion.

You can find the podcast in iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ready-steady-pro

 

The Follans Podcast Interview

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

The Follan's Website – http://www.thefollans.com.au
The Follan's on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thefollans
The Follan's on Instagram – http://instagram.com/thefollans
The AIPP – http://www.aipp.com.au
Renaissance albums from New York – http://www.renaissancealbums.com
Asuka Books – http://www.asukabook.com.au
Jessica Claire – http://www.jessicaclaire.net
One Fine Day Bridal Expos – http://onefinedayweddingfair.com.au
David Oliver Photography – http://www.davidoliver.com.au

If you're interested in finding more about the upcoming workshop with The Follan's and Ian Wilkinson, here is the link: http://www.aipp.com.au/EventDetail?EventKey=NO-13_20 

That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you. I'd love for you to leave a comment below to let me know what you took away from this episode of the podcast.

Speak soon

Andrew